Insanity Defense

July 15, 1986|By Kenneth D. Dubinski.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE — In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a condemned prisoner who seeks to ``avoid`` execution by claiming to be insane is entitled to a mental evaluation by a neutral body or a court and not by government-appointed doctors. In this ruling, the justices struck down a Florida evaluation practice under the provisions of the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which forbids ``cruel and unusual punishment.``

The Supreme Court five who voted in favor of this ruling must be in a

``stupor.`` They never felt the emotion or even tried to realize the pain and suffering that the families of murder victims go through after the murder of a loved one. More important, what about the horror and helplessness the victim suffered before their death?

The possibility that a killer would not be executed because of a cleverly disguised plan of insanity ``after the fact,`` by his/her lawyer is repulsive, appalling and an insult to the judicial system, the jury and to the victims and their families.